… This circles around annihilationism.2 Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma via the middle:
From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications.
From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness.
From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form.
From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media.
From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes …
… So you can stay with these breath sensations all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out-, and all the way in between. In this way, your focus doesn’t have pauses.
Often when we meditate, our attention is present in phrases, like phrases of music. A few notes are connected, and there’s a pause. The next few notes …
… For instance, say you focus on the middle of the chest. It feels good
breathing in, it feels good breathing out, right there at the middle
of the chest. You breathe in a way that feels like it’s massaging the
muscles around the heart so that the blood flows all around, nice and
evenly. And there’s a sense of fullness there—not …
… He makes known—having realized it through direct knowledge—this world with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk; he explains the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end; he expounds the holy life both in its particulars & in its essence, entirely perfect, surpassingly pure. It is good to see such a …
… There’s no way it can not become sharp. So we should keep at the practice in the same way that we sharpen a knife. If any part of the body or mind isn’t in good shape, we keep adjusting it until we get good results. When good results arise, we’ll be in a state of Right Concentration. The mind will be …
… Remember that phrase in the expression of
goodwill, “May we all look after ourselves with ease”—in a way that
we’re not harming ourselves, we’re not harming other people. Is there
some way you can teach other people to act that way? That’s one of the
best gifts there is.
As for people you can’t teach in that way: To …
… For bodhisattvas to succeed in this way, they have to give themselves over to perfecting ten qualities –
1. Dāna-pāramī: generosity.
2. Sīla-pāramī: virtue.
3. Nekkhamma-pāramī: renunciation of sensuality (and of the household life).
4. Paññā-pāramī: the search for discernment.
5. Viriya-pāramī: persistence.
6. Khanti-pāramī: endurance, patience.
7. Sacca-pāramī: truthfulness.
8. Adhiṭṭhāna-pāramī: determination.
9. Mettā-pāramī: goodwill …
… Let the breath spread throughout every part of the body, from the head to the tips of the fingers and toes, in front, in back, in the middle of the stomach, all the way through the intestines, along the blood vessels, and out through every pore. Breathe long and deep until the body feels full. The body will feel light, open and spacious, just …
… This is the middle path. If you make your awareness of the breath too narrow, you’ll end up sitting stock stiff, with no alertness at all. If you make your awareness too broad—all the way to heaven and hell—you can end up falling for aberrant perceptions. So neither extreme is good. You have to keep things moderate and just right if …
… According to Buddhaghosa, the ancient Sinhalese commentaries mention several ways for making a storage space of this sort, but he himself recommends this: When starting construction of the storage place, after the foundation has been laid, a group of bhikkhus should gather around and, as the first post is being put in place, say (not in unison),
“Kappiya-kuṭiṁ karoma (We make this allowable …
… It might be in the middle
of the head, the chest, the abdomen. Focus your attention there and
let it stay there for a while. See what kind of breathing feels good
there. It could be long breathing, short breathing, fast or slow,
heavy or light. Just try to focus, pay careful attention because we’re
trying to get ourselves grounded in the body …
Psychologists who have studied the way people look for happiness
report that most people will pursue a particular type of happiness
until they see that the cost is too great and then they’ll stop. In
other words, there are too many difficulties, too many drawbacks, too
many side effects. The problem is that most people are very
insensitive to the costs of the …
… Breath Meditation
12 Taking a Stance
13 The Joy of Effort
14 Experimental Intelligence
15 The Path of Mistakes
16 A Post by the Ocean
17 The Active Truth
18 The Middleness of the Path
19 The Grass at the Gate
20 A Magic Set of Tools
21 Perception
22 Little Things
23 Stepping Back
24 Generosity First
25 Self Esteem
26 Goodwill All …
… If there’s a dog barking in the middle of the road, kick it off to one side.
§ Barking dogs don’t bite. Silent dogs might, so watch out.
§ Ears that listen to gossip are the ears of a pitcher, not the ears of a person.
§ Don’t believe everything you hear. If they say you’re a dog, check to see for yourself …
… Ask yourself, “Where do you feel it most clearly now?” Try to stay
with that, all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the
out-. And if long breathing feels good, keep it up. If it doesn’t, you
can change: Make it faster, slower, shorter, more shallow, heavier,
lighter. Try to get in touch with what feels good right now …
… The first one doesn’t see, the middle one doesn’t see, and the last one doesn’t see. In the same way, the statement of the brahmans turns out to be comparable to a row of blind men, as it were: The first one doesn’t see, the middle one doesn’t see, and the last one doesn’t see. So what do …
… This is why the Buddha said his path is admirable in the beginning,
admirable in the middle, and admirable in the end, because it requires
us to be responsible all the way through.
… The Buddha discovered that the way you attend to sensory contact is determined by your views about what’s important: the questions you bring to each experience, the problems you want to solve. If there were no problems in life, you could open yourself up choicelessly to whatever came along. But the fact is there is a big problem smack dab in the middle …
… good family has gone forth in this way, he is covetous, with strong passion for sensual desires, with a mind of ill will, of corrupt resolves, his mindfulness muddled, unalert, unconcentrated, his mind distracted, loose in his sense faculties. Just as a log from a funeral pyre, burning at both ends, smeared with excrement in the middle, fills no use as timber either in …
… That way—when, in the course of the day,
something difficult comes up, either from outside or inside—you go to
the breath, and surrounding the breath are thoughts about the Buddha,
the Dhamma, the Sangha, thoughts about the brahma-viharas, to give you
some perspective on the issue facing you. That way, as you stay with
the breath, you’re not simply hiding …
SN 12:17 Acela Sutta | To the Clothless Ascetic
… This circles around annihilationism.2 Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma via the middle: From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications. From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness. From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form. From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media. From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes …
The Skills of Jhāna | The Skill of Release
… There’s no way it can not become sharp. So we should keep at the practice in the same way that we sharpen a knife. If any part of the body or mind isn’t in good shape, we keep adjusting it until we get good results. When good results arise, we’ll be in a state of Right Concentration. The mind will be …
Talk collections | dhammatalks.org
… Breath Meditation 12 Taking a Stance 13 The Joy of Effort 14 Experimental Intelligence 15 The Path of Mistakes 16 A Post by the Ocean 17 The Active Truth 18 The Middleness of the Path 19 The Grass at the Gate 20 A Magic Set of Tools 21 Perception 22 Little Things 23 Stepping Back 24 Generosity First 25 Self Esteem 26 Goodwill All …
